80% of strikes on Greater Odesa ports involve Banderol missiles

Ukraine’s Black Sea ports are increasingly being targeted by Russia’s new Banderol cruise missile, whose key advantage is its low cost. According to Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, the missile’s development began in 2021 to fill the gap between low-cost, slow-flying Shahed-type drones and the much more expensive and accurate Kh-101 cruise missiles.

Vlasiuk said that about 80% of strikes on the port infrastructure of Greater Odesa, including the ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi, are carried out using Banderol missiles. The weapon carries a 150-kg warhead, larger than that of a Shahed drone, and flies too fast for Ukraine’s latest interceptor drones to engage effectively.

At the same time, each missile is estimated to cost only $150,000-300,000, making the use of expensive surface-to-air missiles, including Patriot interceptors, economically inefficient. Vlasiuk also noted that current Banderol missiles contain numerous foreign-made components, and tighter sanctions on these supplies could help limit Russian production.

Ukraine estimates that Russia produces hundreds of Banderol missiles annually. With a range of only a few hundred kilometers, they are mainly launched from occupied Crimea against targets in the Odesa region. According to Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk, the continuous attacks have significantly slowed operations along Ukraine’s maritime corridor, while more than 20 vessels have already been damaged.

Konstantin Sobol, owner of the Odesa-based shipping company Marelis Navigation, offered an even more pessimistic assessment. He said the ports of Greater Odesa, Ukraine’s last direct gateway to the Black Sea, can now be considered “98% closed.” In his view, this effectively amounts to an almost complete halt of Ukraine’s deep-water exports and imports.

Tags: Ukrainian ports, war